Queen Elizabeth has signed up to Facebook.

The British monarch - who also has pages on micro-blogging site twitter and photo-sharing website Flick-r - has now joined the popular social networking site, allowing fans of the royal to "poke" her and receive frequent updates on the day-to-day activities of the queen.

While it will not be possible for Facebook users to befriend the queen in the cyber environment, they will be given instant access to scores of videos, images, news and speeches, all approved by the monarch.

A royal aide told the Daily Mail newspaper: "he queen has approved the decision - she knows all about Facebook. Facebook is the final frontier in the royal family's foray into digital technology.

"It's basically the royal household's way of broadening its appeal and communicating to members of the public. The queen knows all her grandchildren use Facebook and it would be remiss of the household not to be keeping up-to-date with the web."

Facebook users will also be able to search for royal events happening in their area through the Court Circular, which is the official record of the queen's engagements.